Saturday 16 April was the day when Sgioba Luaidh were almost overwhelmed! Every year the Scouts from Bonnyrigg descend on Auchindrain for the weekend, doing things like planting totties and helping with conservation work. They were sent in to waulk with us in small groups, and there was also a constant stream of “normal” visitors, so we were hard at it all day. It wasn’t too easy, because we would be in the middle of working with one group, when more folk would come in. But we coped! And we shouldn’t even have been at Auchindrain that day! We made an extra visit at the request of three ladies from Prince Edward Island, who had contacted us saying that they would be visiting Scotland, and were really keen to see us perform. So how could we refuse? It was lovely to meet them, and they enjoyed waulking with us. They gave us Canadian pins for our fleeces, and two cans of wonderful maple syrup. We stuffed ourselves with pancakes and syrup at our next few practice meetings!
Click here for some pics. (Prepare to drool at the sight of those lovely pancakes!)
The following week we were back at Auchindrain for another busy day, but with visitor numbers a wee bit more manageable!
After a couple of weeks’ respite we had a nice sail to Rothesay to perform for St Andrew’s Ladies Group. They were a small crowd, but they sure were up for a laugh! And they gave us a lovely afternoon tea! You can see some pics here.
Frances and Pauline had an interesting day at Paisley Museum for an event celebrating Scottish textiles in the nineteenth century. There were some fascinating displays: Paisley shawls, of course, and everything from Ayrshire lace to Singer sewing machines; lots of information about dyes, as the move was being made from natural dyes to synthetic. (Our spinner, Innes, was gnashing her teeth at missing all this – bad timing of holidays!)
Our friend Dan Coughlan, the weaver at the Mueum, was giving a demonstration. Frances bravely had a go at the loom, but her wee legs weren’t quite long enough to reach the treadles. However she is now a dab hand at throwing the shuttle! Pics here.
Dan had a demonstration tweed on the loom and when he has woven a good length he will invite Sgioba Luaidh back to the Museum to waulk it! Sgoinneil fhéin! We now have no fewer than three tweeds up our sleeve!
The first one, a gift from our friend Alison Ross, will be waulked at Auchindrain on Saturday 25 July. The second tweed was given to us by Sam Goates, who also wove the “Kelp” tweed which we waulked last year. (And she is trusting us with another!) We hope that Sam will be able to join us at Auchindrain on Saturday 26 September for our second full waulking of the year. Two dates for your diary. Do try to join us.
